Friday, October 15, 2004
Democracy in America?
I've not been a big fan of Paul Krugman. I think he's wrong a lot of the time. Last year, I thought his monomania about Bush led to his writing some truly shitty columns about Tony Blair and Mohammed Mahathir.
But, things change in an election year. In an instance of pigs taking wing, I'll favorably cite a column of his.
Actually, Krugman's latest is a helpful list of things Republicans nationwide are doing to restrict the vote. I'm scared.
Republicans in positions of authority are doing what they can to disallow voter registration on technicalities. Ohio's secretary of state tried to insist that registration forms only be accepted if they were filled out on a certain stock of paper (the law he cited was passed in the 19th century). Glenda Hood (expect to read a lot more about her) the successor to Katherine Harris, is voiding registration forms that were signed but lack a checked box affirming US citizenship. The catch is that the signature legally affirms citizenship anyway. In Wisconsin, a Republican is trying to give Milwaukee fewer ballots this year than it had in 2000 (guess how Milwaukee votes).
And - of course - there's the instance of the Nevada company that shredded Democratic registration forms.
I'm starting to think that federalism has left our electoral process in deep danger of being corrupted by abuses at the state and local level. Our last election lacked credibility, simply put. We moved blissfully on into an amnesiac trance - particularly after 9/11.
But watching all this unfold in slow motion brings it all back. Voter registration deadlines have largely passed. All that can be done now is to shine a bright spotlight on the polling places, to assiduously document odd events as they occur.
I have less confidence in my electoral process than I do of that of other countries. And that pains me.
I've not been a big fan of Paul Krugman. I think he's wrong a lot of the time. Last year, I thought his monomania about Bush led to his writing some truly shitty columns about Tony Blair and Mohammed Mahathir.
But, things change in an election year. In an instance of pigs taking wing, I'll favorably cite a column of his.
Actually, Krugman's latest is a helpful list of things Republicans nationwide are doing to restrict the vote. I'm scared.
Republicans in positions of authority are doing what they can to disallow voter registration on technicalities. Ohio's secretary of state tried to insist that registration forms only be accepted if they were filled out on a certain stock of paper (the law he cited was passed in the 19th century). Glenda Hood (expect to read a lot more about her) the successor to Katherine Harris, is voiding registration forms that were signed but lack a checked box affirming US citizenship. The catch is that the signature legally affirms citizenship anyway. In Wisconsin, a Republican is trying to give Milwaukee fewer ballots this year than it had in 2000 (guess how Milwaukee votes).
And - of course - there's the instance of the Nevada company that shredded Democratic registration forms.
I'm starting to think that federalism has left our electoral process in deep danger of being corrupted by abuses at the state and local level. Our last election lacked credibility, simply put. We moved blissfully on into an amnesiac trance - particularly after 9/11.
But watching all this unfold in slow motion brings it all back. Voter registration deadlines have largely passed. All that can be done now is to shine a bright spotlight on the polling places, to assiduously document odd events as they occur.
I have less confidence in my electoral process than I do of that of other countries. And that pains me.
